The present invention relates to an output unit of a refrigeration device, having a niche with a rear wall which is provided with a cover having a dish-shaped section that is curved inwardly into the niche and bounded by opposite edge sections connected by means of a niche frame.
An output unit of a refrigeration device is described in DE 10 2004 013 432 A1. Disclosed therein is a refrigerator door having a dispenser. Said refrigerator door has an outer case defining its outward appearance. Mounted on both side ends of the refrigerator door are a first and second mounting frame that have a first and second mounting slot embodied as being located in said frames mutually opposite in the longitudinal direction. The dispenser is detachably coupled to the front of the outer case and has a housing which defines the dispenser's outward appearance and is provided with a recess section. Except for an area in which the dispenser is installed, an external plate section is coupled to the front of the outer case to define the refrigerator door's outward appearance.
The two side-end sections of the external plate are inserted into the first and second mounting frame's first and second mounting slot. If it is necessary to replace the external plates or the dispenser, the user can simply replace the external plates or dispenser without having to replace the refrigerator door. The color of the dispenser's housing can accordingly be variably selected. That means that the color of the housing can be selected as being identical to that of the external plates or that the color of the housing can be selected as being different from that of the external plates, whatever the user wishes. It is, though, therein necessary for the door to be embodied as being in two parts, meaning that a top external plate and a separate bottom external plate will be necessary. The dispenser's housing, forming the cover, is moreover secured in position in a mounting frame's mounting slots. That means that on the one hand the mounting frame will remain visible even when installation is complete and will detract from the refrigeration device's visual impact; it means on the other hand that the mounting frame will have to be detached for mounting or removing the cover. That requires first removing lateral screws on the mounting frame.
EP 1 605 219 A1 describes an output unit of a refrigeration device with a niche and faceplate embodied as a single piece and not having a separate cover. The niche is positioned in the manner of a faceplate externally onto the output unit using securing means. Owing to the intricate design of the niche-shaped faceplate it is economically impractical to produce it from high-grade materials such as, for instance, high-grade steel. To visually conceal the securing means they need to be covered. The operating tabs of the water dispenser and ice feeder are for that purpose positioned in front of the securing means. The niche and faceplate can consequently be mounted or removed only by extensively dismantling functional components of the output unit.